Table of Contents

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Series

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) series was
designed to achieve three primary objectives: to develop detailed information
about the victims and consequences of crime, to estimate the number and types of
crimes not reported to police, and to provide uniform measures of selected types
of crime.

All persons in the United States 12 years of age and older
were interviewed in each household sampled. Each respondent was asked a series
of screen questions to determine if he or she was victimized during the six-month
period preceding the first day of the month of the interview. Screen questions
cover the following types of crimes, including attempts: rape, robbery, assault,
burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.

The data include type of
crime; severity of the crime; injuries or losses; time and place of occurrence;
medical expenses incurred; number, age, race, and sex of offender(s); and
relationship of offender(s) to the victim (stranger, casual acquaintance,
relative, etc.). Demographic information on household members includes age, sex,
race, education, employment, median family income, marital status, and military
history. A stratified multistage cluster sample technique was employed, with the
person-level files consisting of a full sample of victims and a 10 percent
sample of nonvictims for up to four incidents.

The NCVS data are
organized by collection quarter, and six quarters comprise an annual file. For
example, for a 1979 file, the four quarters of 1979 are included as well as the
first two quarters of 1980.